Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Pasta and Seafood and Wine. Oh. My.

NOTE: My camera is being pissy, so there are no pics for this post. But PLEASE believe me: any pics I took would not do it Justice, because: It. Is. Awesome.

I’ve been working hard on a mushroom recipe that’s giving me absolute fits, and sometime around a month ago I decided that it was going to be the next recipe I posted.

And then it started giving me even more fits, and being the stubborn person I am, I posted nothing.

So, no mushrooms today, because I finally said “forget the ‘shrooms” when a pile of shrimp and mussels crossed my path singing a song of “Eat me NOW”.

Isn’t that how everyone gets their seafood?

This dinner was AMAZING. The Professor wants to eat it every day for the next month, but perhaps the best description of just how good it was is this: I took MULTIPLE bites of food between sips of wine. And to get that kind of attention from me, you pretty much have to be George Clooney.

A big hunk of a crusty bread is an absolute must to catch all the garlicy-lemony-additcive-y juices. And best of all, it’s really fast – it almost came together in the time it took my angel hair to cook. And...did I mention there’s wine?

1 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled (I used 31-35, which is somewhere between medium and large)

Juice of half a lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Start the pasta cooking in lightly salted water.

Heat olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until it’s softened. Add the garlic and cook until the smell of onions and garlic makes you want to weep with happiness (a couple of minutes).

Add the can of tomatoes, thyme, oregano, a dash or so of salt & a few twists of fresh cracked black pepper to the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add mussels , shrimp and lemon juice; stir, cover and cook on medium high until the shrimp are pink and the mussels have opened (do NOT eat the mussels that remain closed).

Serve over drained pasta, with a hunk of bread.

Note: I completely forgot that I had saffron in my spice cabinet, but a pinch of that would make an amazing addition.